Amazon this week discounted Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox Live subscription for the Xbox 360 to under $40 in the latest wave of video game price cuts.
The retailer is selling the Xbox Live 12-month Gold subscription for $38.99, a 22 percent discount from a $49.99 MSRP.

Additionally, it discounted the Xbox Live 4000 Points SKU to $39.97, down from $49.99, and the Xbox Live 1600 Points SKU to $15.97, down from $19.99

Microsoft in May said that the service, which allows 360 owners to play multiplayer titles, download game titles and view HD TV and movie offerings, reached 12 million subscribers worldwide.

Microsoft on Sept. 5 discounted all Xbox 360 hardware between $50 to $80 to spur sales.

The Arcade SKU now sells for $199, the Pro at $299 and the Elite at $399.

It is on topic, this is exactly what's signaling MS replacing the 360 with a new model, and after they bought the console name and let everyone down, I hope they don't do it again. I would not be surprised if it is a letdown anyway. Quick message: MICROSOFT PLACE SHIT IN THE RIGHT PLACES THIS TIME.

The xbox 360 wasn't a letdown.. It had plenty of awesome new features.. The RROD is just a small problem, I never got one and I never will.

Several video game blogs, newspapers, and magazines (Such as You must login or register to view this content., You must login or register to view this content., You must login or register to view this content., You must login or register to view this content., You must login or register to view this content., You must login or register to view this content., and several others) reported on an interview by a You must login or register to view this content. Reader Blog "Digital Joystick" with a confidential source inside Microsoft by the name "xboxfounder". It reported that this source was a team leader and key architect in the creation of the Xbox and Xbox 360 and a founding member of the Xbox team and has since left the company but maintained close ties to the remaining Xbox team.You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content.
The interviews suggest that Xbox 360 units that fail early in their life do so because of problems in the system design, parts supply, material reliability, and manufacturing issues as well as a system not tolerant to faults. These issues were alleged to be the end results of the decisions of management in Microsoft's Xbox team and inadequate testing resources prior to the console's release. Other websites claim the insider's authenticity has been confirmed.You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content.
In You must login or register to view this content.-You must login or register to view this content. You must login or register to view this content. digital media published a follow up story titled "Xbox 360 defects: An inside history of Microsoft's video game console woes" You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content.. The Microsoft employee appearing in the article was later fired by Microsoft for his part in the story. You must login or register to view this content.
In the early months after the console's launch, You must login or register to view this content. stated that the Xbox 360's failure rate was within the consumer electronics industry average of 3% to 5%.You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content. Nevertheless, Microsoft has not released their official statistics on the failure rate of the various versions of the console; the company's press relations policy is to focus on the prompt resolution of any technical problems.You must login or register to view this content. In February 2008 an examination of 1040 Xbox 360s by You must login or register to view this content. found a 16.4% failure rate; 171 were returned under warranty as "disabled", 60% of which with general hardware failure.You must login or register to view this content.You must login or register to view this content.. However SquareTrade also admits that their estimates are likely much lower than reality, due to many owners of failed consoles who are getting them repaired directly via You must login or register to view this content., they also note that the consoles were only tracked for 6-10 months, and in the longer term, many more consoles will have failed. This ties in with most other sources claiming 30%-40% failure rates, and 10% on even the more recent models. You must login or register to view this content.